Stately Kitsch | Design for the modern older home owner.

Happy New Year!

January 2, 2013 — 4 Comments

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had a joyful and restful holiday season!

I can’t believe 2012 is over and it is time to start thinking about 2013 and what lies ahead. This past year has been so full it is hard to imagine what is in store for this year. As you can see I’m starting off the year with a bit of a ramble. I’ve had some time to stew things over in my head, so I thought I would share.

I had some quality downtime over the break. So what did I do with it? We spent a good bit of time as a family and Mr. S. and I actually managed to get some alone time in, including going out to lunch a couple of times by ourselves!

I also managed to start cleaning and organizing the workroom in the basement and Mr. S. worked on a new logo for the blog and is part way through a new layout. I’m pretty excited about that, especially since the current format seems to be literally falling apart.

The other thing I managed to do was to read an entire book, which is a miracle in itself. I chose “Happiness at Home” by Gretchen Rubin. I haven’t read the “Happiness Project” but I thought this sequel might be more my speed. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, much less on actual concrete “home” and more on creating a better home life. A lot of the things she wrote resonated with me. So I’m not quite sure I will be starting a compete Happiness Project, but I am going to try and be more mindful and am considering a few small changes. I like her strategy of making small concrete changes, rather than large gestures that are harder to actually implement and stick to. Has anyone tried their own Happiness Project?

I also worked on some to do lists for the house. I really like making lists, particularly by hand. That way I can add notes, circles, cross things off. Does anyone else still do this?

What came out of my house lists and discussions with Mr. S. is that adding air conditioning by the summer is at the top of the LONG list. Our window units aren’t cutting it and with global climate change air conditioning has become much more of a necessity in these parts.Â We also have some ongoing space planning issues on the second floor, which have been on hold until we determine the layout for the air conditioning ducts. Our general plan had been to install the unit on the third floor to feed the second and third floor. Our neighbors have this set up and it has provided ample cooling for all three floors of their house. Of course it is never that simple. It will require removing a good portion of the plaster knee walls in the third floor to insulate and then carefully snaking the ducting through the eaves down to the second floor and into the third floor. Well after some thinking about both the second and third floor problems, I think I have come up with a better solution. Our second floor ceilings are 9 1/2′ tall. The plaster ceilings in the master bedroom and the hallway need to be covered/replaced anyway, so why not take some of the ceiling height in the hallway and run the ducts down there? That should provide a straighter and cleaner installation for the air conditioning ducts. Of course that still requires insulating the third floor/roof and installing the base unit up there, but I think it might be a good solution.

As I work this out a little more in my head I will post up some drawings and photos. I also need to get some air conditioning and insulation guys in to take a look. I also need to figure out how to get more power up to the second and third floor without making a total mess of the house.

I also have a list of a LOT of smaller projects. So over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing some of these ideas.

Cheers to a wonderful 2013!

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In FAMILY, OUR HOME

Santa Was Here!

December 29, 2012 — Leave a comment

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! We are fortunate to have seen almost our entire family in the last 5 days and are looking to a couple of quiet days before the start of the year.

I wrote about our Santa visit last year but I thought I would update with this year’s picture.

2012

And here are the previous years…

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

P.S. I want to give a special shout out to my lovely husband, who fixed my wordpress problem! I can finally upload pictures again! Yeah!

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Holiday Card 2012

December 21, 2012 — 10 Comments

It is time to finally share our holiday card for this year…

We posed in our normal location (the Living Room) and this year we thought we would show a little bit more of the kids personalities, starting with a certain 3 1/2 year old girl. In the last year I have begun to understand the drama of a little girl. Little boys have their own issues, but the emotions of a 3 year old girl are hard to beat. So when Maisie started making this face a couple of weeks before the photo shoot, I knew that we had to use it. When the day of the photo actually came, she was reluctant to pout in front of the camera, not that she was willing to smile either. Although in the end her brother was actually more difficult. He loves his costumes, but he wasn’t happy with the agreed upon outfit. He wanted to be wearing even more stuff! The surprise of the shoot were the cats, who both came to visit while we were working on it, so we just snapped their pictures, without any treats!

The Details

We always try to put in some fun details.

1. This year Mr. S. decided that bunny slippers were in order. We actually only bought 1 pair. Since, everyone is shot separately, we passed them around.

2. This is the first year that we didn’t put up the big tree for the shoot. Instead we used the little silver tree that is now sitting on the piano. We also brought in the chair from the Dining Room and the extra side table from the front porch.

3. The painting above the mantel this year is The Treaty of Penn with Indians by Benjamin West, painted in 1772. Benjamin West was from just down the road from here.

4. Mr. S. is reading a vintage copy of Robinson & Crusoe from our book shelf.

5. Maisie is wearing the antenna from her ladybug Halloween costume, while I am trying to fix her costume.

6. On some of the outtakes we are all wearing fake mustaches.

7. The fire in the fireplace use to be fake but we now have gas logs, so it is actually real.

8. The photo is comprised of 7 or 8 photos, put together in Photoshop by my super talented Mr. S. In reality we shoot a couple hundred photos to get the right combination. Here are a few of my favorites:

To see some of our previous cards: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! I’m off to see if I can get the rest of the coatrack up before family starts arriving.

Cheers!

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In -Holiday Cards, FAMILY

Holiday Season Update

December 17, 2012 — Leave a comment

Maisie & Sam (aka Candle #7)

Hello all! I wish I had more to post, but I don’t. I am deeply saddened by the events in Connecticut and spent a lot of the weekend staying close to the kids.I also think I have officially overextended myself. I have a hard time saying ‘no’, although there are some things, especially related to the kids’ school that I always want to make sure get finished and done right. The kids had their Hanukkah play at school last week and it was fabulous! Sam made a great candle #7 and a good time was had by all. We also managed to make some Christmas sugar cookies this weekend, which the kids have been asking to do for a while. They were so blissfully unaware of what happened.

Hallway Progress

In the meantime I have been trying to get the front hall hooks and shelves finished, which has been painstaking slow. When I have a few minutes I run downstairs and put on another coat of stain to all of the parts. I managed to hang the lower piece yesterday and the kids enjoyed filling up the hooks that are up (although I ordered some more to fill out the board). I am really trying to get the top part finished by Friday. We will see if that happens. Fingers crossed! At least now I have all of the parts minus 6 extra hooks which can be installed after the boards are up.

I am sending my love to everyone!

P.S. The holiday cards are in the mail. So I will be posting up the picture and all of the details later this week.

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In DIY, FAMILY

Winter & Holiday Deocorating at Terrain

December 10, 2012 — Leave a comment

: Mix of Greens,Â Holly Berries, Eucalyptus paired with a Vintage Style Sign & Twinkle Lights

I stopped over at Terrain this weekend for some winter & holiday inspiration. The weather was dreary to say the least but it was still beautiful. I hope you enjoy the eye candy! The number of outdoor arrangements and plants was impressive! I wanted to scoop them up and bring them home! I think that they have really upped their game in terms of outdoor plants and exterior decoration. Of course most of them were REALLY expensive. The displayÂ makes we want a larger garden just so I could grow some of these plants for cuttings. Maybe I will stop over at Produce Junction and see what I could pick up to make my own outdoor arrangement. So stay tuned!

Holly Berries Mixed with Greens, Eucalyptus & Red Twig Dogwood in a Stunning Urn

I think this was my favorite arrangement. The colors and size was spectacular (over 4′ across). I think one of the surprises in their arrangements was the mix of cuttings with perennials. They usually do a nice job of mixing perennials with annuals, but this time of year all the annuals (with the exception of some of the cabbages are done for the season). They actually use quite a few small bushes (that were also for sale). I’m not sure if they are really dwarfs or just babies, I will have to investigate! I also thought the use of eucalyptus was brilliant. I think of it being used in boring interior applications, but outside it brought a new color and texture to the arrangements (and appeared to be holding up quite well outside).

Mix of small cabbages, heather and sedum

I like the use of heather here paired with the small cabbages. I just saw some heather for sale the other day locally and was wondering how it would fair outside. Maybe I will give it a shot.

Planter with Nandina, Coral Bells & Autumn Joy Sedum

I really liked this arrangement, especially since I own all of these plants, and these are all readily available. I actually have 3 miniature nandina sitting behind the shed waiting to be planted. Maybe I will throw a couple of them in pots on the deck for the winter. Also as long as the winter doesn’t get too cold the coral bells should make it through. I do wonder with the pot being exposed though how it might fair. Will the roots freeze?

Beautiful Window Boxes

The window boxes were stunning. I have never seen the black cabbages before. I also liked these grape vine orbs. They have lights in them, but at $148 a piece, I may try to replicate them for my yard. I always have random weedy vines that I might be able to use to replicate this.

Miniature Outdoor Display

Finally, this miniature outdoor scene was splendid. I am trying to think of a place for something like this that could be seasonable in our yard. One more item for the to do list!

P.S. Here are the photos from last year’s visit.

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In -Shopping, GARDENING & PLANTS

A Little Holiday Outdoor Decorating

December 6, 2012 — Leave a comment

Birdbath Decorated for Christmas

Sorry about the lack of posts; life has been busy. Enough of the whining and on with the Christmas Decorating!

I decided that I wanted to put up a few decorations in the backyard. We walk through the yard several times a day to get to the driveway and garage. So the front yard decorations are mostly for the neighbors enjoyment. I thought it made sense to add some color to the area that we actually use. It all started months ago when I saw this image on Pinterest.

Image via BHG

I thought well that is pretty cool. I turn my birdbath upside down in the winter and it always looks a little sad. That would be a fun and relatively easy way to add some color in the middle of winter. So the other day a made a trip over to Home Depot to take a look at the Martha Stewart Christmas decorations. They had some nice sets, but when I saw these giant ones I was sold (similar to this set but bigger). It included 9 giant (approximately 8″ dia) ornaments and was $21.99. I also stopped by the dollar store to grab some smaller ornaments to fill in.

Everything Ready to Go

I got out some thin green florist wire, a pine branch, and some other random materials. First I had to figure out how I was going to lay out the ornaments. I tried several different stacking methods and decided that it made sense to start with 5 on the bottom.

First Row of Ornaments attached to an old brick

After a good bit of trial and error including trying to use foam blocks, I went with a half brick with wire wrapped around it for the base. I attached the 5 large ornaments together with a single piece of wire and then attached that to the wire that was around the brick. I also infilled with a few smaller ornaments and tied them to the rest. Then I repeated with the remain 4 large ornaments and a few smaller ones, being careful to attach them all back to the bottom.

Birdbath looking from the House

I am happy with the result, especially considering it took about a half hour. It could use a little more fill in but it is not something I look at up close, so for now it is done. The ornaments are all the “shatter proof” variety. I assume this means that they are plastic and not glass. I am not sure how they will handle being outside for the season, but I decided it was worth a try.

Greenery on the Back Gate

For good measure I also put up some greenery on the back gate, along with a pre-made bow.

All told I spent about $29 for the backyard. Not too bad.

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In CRAFTS, DIY

Christmas Decorations on Top of the Piano

December 3, 2012 — 3 Comments

Piano Decorated for Christmas

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend. We had a low key weekend here, including an afternoon curled up watching a movie together after putting up the Christmas tree. As much as there is a certain amount of annoyance with putting up our artificial tree, at least the kids are actually old enough to enjoy hanging up the ornaments (even if it isn’t in an evenly distributed manor), and we don’t have to worry too much about hanging the ornaments up so high.Â In addition to our big tree I also put up our little silver tree (that I picked up on clearance last year).

Bowl of Ornaments and Small Silver Tree

I have changed up the top of the piano again! I guess in a busy house it is nice to have control of one area (even if it is a small one). It is also one of the few areas that the kids are good about not touching. I decided to put the cute little silver tree here and filled it with miniature ornaments that I have had since my apartment days. I wasn’t sure what to pair it with until I was strolling through the aisles at Target. I saw these cute (non-shattering) Christmas ornaments in lots of delicious colors. I decided that these were worth a try. I wasn’t sure whats I was going to do with them. I was considering making a wreath, especially after I saw this super easy tutorial by Eddie Ross, but then I remembered that I had this beautiful glass bowl (that is normally stuffed behind some stuff in an upper kitchen cabinet).

The 2 boxes of ornaments worked perfectly! Then I pulled out a cute cat figurine and a vintage angel candle snuffer. I think it could still use a few more little things, but for now I am quite enjoying it, especially because we spend so much time back in this area of the house.

Remember here is where I started this summer:

Piano from this Summer

And here is this fall:

Fall Display

And here we are for Christmas:

I think my favorite thing about it is that the ornaments pick up on the colors from the chair (which I still really love).

How are your holiday decorations coming?

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In -Dining Room, DIY, OUR HOME

A Memorable Object

November 28, 2012 — 2 Comments

Vintage German Cow Bell now hanging on our Dining Room

I am fresh off the plane from the Midwest and pretty beat. It has been a long couple of days and I am already dreading the pile of work that awaits me. But first I had to hang something up.

I come from a family of farmers (at least on my father’s side); to be more specific, Iowa dairy farmers. I was actually born in NJ and my Midwestern relatives like to make fun of my “NJ” accent (which I like to think has more to do with my fast talking style then my actual accent). However I spent almost every Christmas in the Midwest and have fond memories of watching my grandparents, uncles and aunts milking their herd of Brown Swiss cows. We would stay at the old farmhouse and every morning my grandfather would scoop the cream off the top of the fresh unpasteurized milk to put on his cereal. His well worn hands taking a break from the morning chores.

So when I think of what objects would remind me of my grandparents, I always think of cows. I have put in a request for a Brown Swiss statue or pitcher to add to our Dining RoomÂ animal menagerie, but I did bring one thing back with me. When I was 12 we went of a family trip to Europe. While we were there we visited the Black Forrest region in Germany. We picked up a vintage cow bell to bring back for my Grandparents.Â For years it hung in their kitchen.Â So it is with pride that I hung it up in our Dining Room (just above my cow bell).

My brother and me on the farm with my Dad and Grandpa

My Mom just scanned this old photo for me. No instagram filters needed!

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Holiday Photo Shoot

November 27, 2012 — 2 Comments

Well we managed to get our holiday photo shoot finished and mostly edited over the weekend.Â It took the most part of the day (not including editing). Fortunately with a bit of cajoling everything went well.

Our little helper

I don’t think the kids have a future in acting since their attention span is quite short and they kept asking when we could be done.

The Kids in Between Shots

The best participants this year were the kitties! Both stopped in for their shots unprompted (usually their photos involve a fair number of treats).

On a sad note, I am away right now visiting the great state of Iowa attending my Grandfather’s funeral. He lived to be 96, which is pretty impressive. Sharp as a tack until the end. He will be missed!

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In -Holiday Cards, FAMILY

Happy Thanksgiving

November 24, 2012 — Leave a comment

Happy Thanksgiving from Maisie (and Miss Laura her amazing preschool teacher). I love that some things areÂ just as I remembered them as a kid.

Okay, so Thanksgiving was yesterday, but I wanted to send out a belated Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We had a lovely day with my family including some tasty food including grilled turkey (awesome way to free up the oven) and cornbread and sausage stuffing.

I also just wanted to stay that I am very thankful for all of my readers and clients (and my family and friends)!

Sam’s Thankful Letter.

I am in love with Sam’s creation from Kindergarten. It is amazing what he has already learned in just a couple of months of school! He has announced that he is going to be an artist when he grows up. Needless to say that we are very proud, especially considering that 2 years ago he refused to draw or write at all.

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